All You Need to Know in 90 Seconds: Public Policy in the News

Alison Smith is host of CBC Radio's flagship news program, The World at Six, and is a senior correspondent for CBC News. Smith began her journalism career in Toronto, covering municipal and provincial politics. She then moved to CBC-TV's The National, where she covered national affairs and business news.

Smith became a news host with the launch of CBC Newsworld in 1989, anchoring and reporting on the major stories of the day across Canada and around the globe. She has hosted numerous news programs, including This Day, The Lead, Newsworld Reports,Sunday Report and CBC News Morning. She has reported from every Canadian province and territory and anchored a wide-range of live events at home and abroad including federal and provincial elections and budgets, South Africa's first multi-racial election, the death of Princess Diana, and the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Before assuming her position with The World At Six in the fall of 2009, Smith was the Washington correspondent for CBC Television. She spent four years travelling through the United States and covered the historic election of President Barack Obama.

Smith was born and raised in Osoyoos, B.C., and educated at the University of British Columbia and Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in Toronto. She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Okanagan University College.